thanks, hiro
by Miss Unfading
Summary: Of all the things, of all the people who could bring Sasuke and Sakura together, why did it have to be Hiro? AU
1. begin

_Author's note: I just had to write this before the idea expelled itself from my head. I don't know how long it will be because like MoP, this story really just emerged from a little scene I created in my head during the wee hours of the night. Comments, criticisms, suggestions, they are all welcome! Also I couldn't think of a nice title, but I'll get to that once I actually have a basic plot for this story. Thank you all xx_

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**_thanks, hiro._**

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**_._**

Sasuke Uchiha has been following the nearly the same routine for the past five years.

He wakes up in the wee hours of dawn, at four thirty in the morning, sometimes even earlier, something he does so unintentionally. He makes himself a small breakfast and proceeds to devour it, which he manages to do in ten minutes. Then it's a ten-minute walk to the grassy cliff in the small forest beside the city, where his late parents and brother are buried. Usually no one is awake during this hour, making his walks rather lonely. When he gets to the cliff, he sits there for ten minutes, in complete silence, save for the breeze funneled by the ocean, which the cliff overlooks, and the small, soft songs of the birds.

The walk back to his house is still pretty quiet, although the sky is lighter. He often comes across Kakashi, his professor. The latter, Sasuke noted, always looks like he has too much on his mind during the times he would encounter him. Kakashi had told Sasuke he takes walks to the forst as well, to which he never elaborated upon. The two would exchange '_good mornings_', maybe some small talk, and then '_have a good days_'

The first thing Sasuke does upon arriving at his house is make breakfast for his kitten, a blue-eyed black cat. He had found the kitten lying alone outside a small pawn shop a few blocks from his house and decided to be its owner after concluding the feline was a newborn and could not fend for itself. After feeding the kitten, Sasuke then works out for thirty minutes: Weightlifting for ten minutes, pull-ups for five, push-ups for another five, and sit-ups for ten. After that, he takes a shower, usually lasting fifteen minutes. After getting dressed, he lies down on his bed to read a book or sleep for another hour until he goes to his part time job. Before leaving the house, he prepares food for his kitten.

Sasuke walks to work, which takes twenty minutes. He walks by shops preparing to open for the day, people hurrying to their jobs, and kids strutting to school. He works from eight to twelve as a cook at a small restaurant a block away from the university he attends. Sasuke's coworkers include childhood friends and schoolmates: Chouji, a kind, chubby boy with spiky brown hair, and Tenten, a tomboyish girl always sporting Chinese buns for her hair, are both cooks. Shikamaru, the ponytail-wearing slacker, switches between being a cook and a waiter. The waiters consist of Naruto, an ardent, blue-eyed blond boy who is unquestionably Sasuke's best friend; Kiba, who is very similar to Naruto in terms of personality and sneaks in his puppy to work, and Suigetsu, who has shark like features and is most of the time nonchalant. Temari, the oldest among them, is the receptionist. The group all attend the same university as Sasuke does and leave for school at various times, bringing with them lunch one of the cooks would make.

In the afternoons from Mondays through Thursdays, Sasuke attends two classes on his second year of college. Monday and Wednesday afternoons are occupied by Criminal Law and Criminal Investigation, the latter being the class Kakashi teaches and the one he has with Shikamaru and Gaara, Temari's little brother. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, he sits in the Advanced Research Writing and Technological Transformations classrooms, sharing the class with Temari and Naruto, respectively.

In between classes, Sasuke goes to the library, heads over to a semi-hidden isolated little nook in the back, and does some schoolwork while eating his lunch. The nook is rumored to be haunted because it faces a tree which was reportedly the suicide spot of a student in the past, explaining why it is always empty. On Wednesdays, he is accompanied by a pink-haired girl who also studies in the nook. The two give each other little brief nods when one of them enters the spot, and go about doing their studies without saying anything until one leaves and mutters a bye, to which the other would respond with another quick nod.

Sasuke's classes end at seven and he walks for thirty minutes to his parents' and brother's graves, where he sits quietly for a good ten minutes before heading home. Upon stepping into his house, he is greeted by his cat with a lift of its head up to see who opened the door and then going back to its supine position by the empty bowl. Sasuke cooks dinner for the both of them and eat together. He then either studies or works out before heading to bed.

On Fridays and Saturdays, he works all day, from eight-to-eight. Sometimes he is payed extra for this, other times he isn't, to which he does not really mind. _I don't have much to do, _he would tell his boss.

On Sundays, he takes out the trash and takes his nameless kitty along with him for a walk in the park. After that, he gives it a bath and brushes it. Sundays are also the days he cleans up around the house.

Of course, his routine does not go exactly the same every day. There's bound to be little changes to his days every now and then. Sasuke has to buy groceries and the like on different days. He'd have enough groceries for a month, other times he'd have to stock up every week. Sometimes classes are cancelled. Some days the kitten forgets to do its business in the designated area he had assigned it in his backyard, so he has to clean up the mess it brought _inside_ the house instead. Some of his coworkers also like to come over, especially Naruto, as Sasuke is the only one who is not living with a parent or guardian and they would drink to their heart's content. Occasionally, Sasuke has to serve as the waiter to replace one of the three's absences, much to his annoyance. Some days, he would also have to help Naruto with his schoolwork, resulting in him going over to Naruto's house because Iruka knows Naruto would not work if he were to go over Sasuke's house instead. Iruka was their elementary school teacher and Naruto's guardian. If it weren't for Iruka's tasty tomato dishes, Sasuke would not hesitate to refuse helping Naruto with his schoolwork at all.

In his first three years of the 'routine', Sasuke was in high school, so he had to be in school from eight until three and soccer practice from three till five. He also started working at the restaurant but was not present until the weekends, unless he had a game or tournament.

But none of that is of any significance

Today, Sasuke had gotten up at the usual time, ate with his kitten, and walked to his parent's graves without any disturbance. When he awoke, he had decided today was going to be like any other. Until he arrived at the cliff.

Sasuke stood dumbfounded at the site of his family's graves.

On this particular day, on the 28th of March, there was an abnormality disrupting his routine.

Utterly befuddled by the scene in front of him, he mentally narrated:

_Tell me why._

_Tell me why I arrived at my family's graves at five o clock in the fucking morning on a Saturday to see the Wednesday pink-haired girl from the little nook at the library sobbing and wailing uncontrollably on the ground._

He looked around to see if anyone else was around and rubbed the back of his neck.

_I have been standing here for a few minutes just watching her. _

_I don't know what to do. _

_What do you do when a girl is bawling by your family's graves at five o clock in the morning?_

_Ah I got it._

Sasuke brought out a light cough to let her know that she now had company.

Her sobs died down and she turned his way. She stared at him for a good five seconds, her eyes dark and puffy and welling up with tears before she started wailing again.

_What the hell? _

_Why is she crying HERE at five o clock in the morning? What the fuck is her problem?!_

He clicked his tongue and brought up his arm to scratch the back of his left ear.

_Does she not see the crosses on the graves? Does she not understand that the dead do not want to be disturbed?_

And Sasuke came to a realization. He's seen this in a few movies before. A girl on a cliff by the ocean at an ungodly hour, crying like there was no tomorrow. It's simple and Sasuke was severely disappointed in himself for not recognizing the situation any sooner.

_She wants to commit suicide._

He carefully walked towards his schoolmate and stooped down beside the distraught girl. "Look," he started. "I'd very much want this place to continue being my site of serenity, so if you kill yourself here it won't be so peaceful whenever I come anymore." Sasuke made efforts to soften his voice as much as he can.

The girl wiped her eyes with her sleeves and shifted her head to meet Sasuke's eye. "What?" She sniffed. "Oh no, I don't want to kill myself." Her voice was shaky and her lips quivered as she began her next sentence. "Although I should be dead instead," Tears trickled down her cheeks as she hiccuped, "H..hiro died."

_Oh. So she lost someone._

"I'm sorry," Sasuke said and gave her a couple of pats on the back, wondering if this was the right way to console someone in such a situation. He contemplated on hugging her, which was what some people did after his family died, but ultimately decided against this option.

The girl's sobs worsened. "It's not fair! He was always there to comfort me….he was there with me for everything…..it's just not fair….he was only thirteen…" She buried her face in her hands as she sobbed even more.

She cried for a good while, slowly composing herself. Sasuke stayed beside her the whole time, as uncomfortable as he obviously was. He was supposed to be walking home right now, maybe having the same small talk with Kakashi. _Instead I'm here awkwardly patting a stranger's back._ _Am I even supposed to be patting on her back? Should I pat her shoulder instead?_

"I'm sorry I'm disturbing your place of serenity," The girl began after a few moments of only sniffs and sobs, her voice still shaky. Her green eyes were glued to the ground, but Sasuke could tell they were genuinely apologetic.

"It's all right," He responded. _She did lose someone._

"He was my angel during my childhood until now. How could they just kill him!" Sasuke remained silent. So Hiro was murdered. Just like his parents.

The girl sniffed twice before continuing. "He was the best cartoon hero ever"

Sasuke turned to the girl, his onyx eyes blank and his mouth slightly open.

_Oh._


	2. okay

**A/N: **_This is probably the longest chapter I've written for any of my stories, although I don't think it's long for some people. Haha. I also changed the title, because I felt 5 am was too dumb and cheesy, and also I saw another story with a very similar title._

_Hope you guys like it._

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**ch. 2**

Sasuke found himself by the kitchen stove once more that morning, switched it on and settling the water-filled kettle. He turned around to the distraught pink-haired girl, who was now sitting on the only chair at the dinner table, her head hung down and sobbing every now and then.

"You know how to boil water right?" Sasuke asked the girl. She nodded ever so slightly in response. "Okay. The cup and hot chocolate are here. I'm going to take a shower." He went on to walk out of the kitchen and into his room.

_I'll skip working out for today_, he thought as he grabbed his clothes from his drawer. _Mulling over the death of a cartoon character, tsk._ He drew a deep breath before going into the bathroom.

.

.

Sasuke walked into the kitchen to see the girl taking tiny sips of the chocolate milk. On her lap, was his black kitten curled up comfortably. The girl, noticing the male's presence, immediately wiped her eyes and set her cup on the table.

"I…I'm really sorry for bothering you at such an early hour." She said so quietly, it was almost in a whisper. "D…did I bother y..your parents or anything?"

"I live alone," Sasuke replied, leaning against the kitchen counter and gave a little nod towards the cat that was on her lap. "with that."

The girl looked down at the feline and stroked its fur gently. "She's so cute! What's her name?"

Sasuke took note of the "she" and was the tiniest bit grateful to learn the kitten's gender. Although he didn't know how the girl figured that out. "Doesn't have a name yet," he sighed.

The pinkette set the cat on the table and gazed at it with dull green eyes. "H…Hiro…." Her voice cracked and tears streamed down her cheeks once more.

Sasuke closed his eyes, now feeling slightly stressed. In an attempt to make the girl stop crying, he remarked, "It's just a cartoon character. You can rewatch episodes of him or something."

To which the girl cried even more.

"I'm…He was….I…" She was now in hysterics and the river of tears flowing down her cheeks seemed to have no end. "He was so important to me!"

_What a child! _Sasuke somewhat wrinkled his nose, something he often did when aggravated. He grabbed a plastic cup and filled it with water and offered it to the girl.

The girl's hands shook as she reached for the cup. "Thanks," she sobbed, and took a big gulp. She wiped her eyes and nose with her sleeve and inhaled.

Sasuke took the cup from the girl's hands and refilled it. "Do your parents know where you are?" He set the cup on the table in front of his female company.

She shook her head. "They d…don't really care." She took a deep breath once more and looked up at Sasuke. "But….as I was saying…you should name your kitten Hiro." Her voice cracked at the last few syllables of her sentence.

"You just implied she was a girl," Sasuke told her and took the kitten in his arms. "Little devil."

"In that case," the girl sniffed. "Hira?"

"You're just feminizing Hiro's name now, and it's an ugly variation at that." The kitten jumped out of Sasuke's arms and onto the girl's lap once more. The girl giggled and stroked the kitten. "Fine. I'll name him Hiro," Sasuke stated. "I'm tired of it not having a name."

"Hiro…" the girl repeated and hugged the cat.

Sasuke cleared his throat. "All right then."

The girl stood up, Hiro in her arms. She was several inches shorter than Sasuke and had to raise her head to meet his eyes. Upon doing so, a light shade of red shrouded her features. Sasuke's eyes narrowed a centimeter. _Another one of these. _Traces of her tears were still evident on her cheeks and her nose was embarrassingly red.

"I'm…S..Sakura," The girl introduced. "I recognize you from the library." She added nervously and held out her hand while gripping on the kitten with her other.

"Likewise," Sasuke muttered. "I'm Sasuke." He begrudgingly took her hand and shook it in less than one second.

Sakura bent over to set Hiro down on the floor. She faced Sasuke and bowed. "Thank you, Sasuke-kun, for your kindness. I really appreciate it." She lifted her head up and smiled. "I'm sorry for bothering you again. It won't happen again. I'll leave now."

A pang of guilt overwhelmed Sasuke. "I'm headed for work too. I'll go with you." He said quickly, shifting his eyes to the ceiling to avoid meeting her eyes. _She didn't bother me that much…_He looked at his former nameless kitten, who was sitting beside Sakura's leg. "Besides, I think Hiro wants to go with you," he commented.

Sakura lowered her head to look at Hiro, and back up at Sasuke. "She can come?" Her eyes lit up and she scooped the kitten in her arms. "I'm so glad!" She kissed the kitten again and walked out of the kitchen, Sasuke following the two. He grabbed his backpack from the couch and beckoned Sakura to open the door, and the two set out for the day.

.

.

"What are you studying for, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked eagerly after a few moments of walking together quietly.

"Criminal Justice." Sasuke answered following a gasp from the girl.

"That's so cool!" Her grip on Hiro tightened. "I'm studying to be a doctor," she continued.

"Hard path." Sasuke muttered in reply.

"Yeah," Sakura sighed. "Six more years…"

Another moment of awkward silence filled the two. Sasuke didn't want to talk much, let alone want to even try to be friends with this girl, which is what she seems to be doing. He simply did not want be too much of an asshole to let Sakura think she was a major nuisance to his morning, which is exactly what she was, but offending an already upset girl would have most likely raised Sasuke's jerk meter by a huge number. _Damn_, Sasuke thought, an image of his Naruto and Kiba popping into his mind, _The guys are rubbing off on me._

"I'm really jealous of you Sasuke-kun," Sakura began. "Living by yourself…Where are your parents?"

Sasuke turned his head to look at Sakura. "They're in the place where I initially found you in a state of hysteria."

Sakura stopped in her tracks and widened her eyes. "Sasuke-kun…I..I'm so sorry…That was so insensitive of me...I didn't mean to….I'm so sorry, I was so stupid." She bowed her head in apology and remained in that position for a while. "I just ...When Hiro died, I immediately just ran to wherever to get my mind of off it and next thing I know I'm in the forest, I didn't know how to get out so I just kept going. And I stumbled upon that place and I..I saw the crosses and it just made me think of Hiro and I –"

"Okay, it's okay," Sasuke said sharply to shut her up and started walking again. "Come on, I'll be late for work. Where do you live?"

Sakura straightened her body and hurried to catch up with Sasuke. "It's…three blocks away but you don't have to walk me there Sasuke-kun!"

"Hiro's not showing any signs of detaching herself from you. If she's going to be with you, I'll need to make sure he's going to be okay and you know what to do." Sasuke gave Sakura a strict look.

"I can take care of a kitty, I swear! Just tell me what kind of food he eats, I'll make it for him!" Sakura insisted.

"Mix ground meat, vegetables, and hot water together. Make it so it becomes like stew. Put it in an average sized bowl, it'll be enough for the day." Sasuke instructed.

"Okay, simple enough!"

"You'll know she's hungry when she licks her paws a lot."

"Okay, got it!"

The two kept walking until Sakura paused before the streetwalk at the end of the second block. "Sasuke-kun, I'll have to say goodbye here. My house is that way." She shifted her head to the left. "You really don't have to walk me, I'd like it if you don't...my parents are kind of embarrassing!" She laughed nervously.

Sasuke reached for Hiro's ears and stroked it with his thumb. "I'll come pick her up tonight around eight."

Sakura nodded animatedly. "I'll take good care of her, Sasuke-kun. Thank you again for being so understanding!" Sasuke again bowed. Sasuke responded with the same action, only quicker, so it was more of a nod than a bow.

The two stood on the sidewalk for a little longer, looking at each other.

"Umm..Sasuke-kun," Sakura started. "Aren't you gonna go now? The walk sign's been on for a while." Sakura pointed out.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "You never even told me your house number."

Sakura seemed rather startled by the male's question. "Sasuke-kun, I'll just meet you here in this spot tonight."

Sasuke eyed her with immense scrutiny, becoming suspicious of the girl.

"If you were to come over, my parents would not like it very much. They're very overprotective, Sasuke-kun. Please understand." Sakura looked down at the ground. Sasuke, still skeptical, caught a glimpse of Sakura's watch – _7:57_.

"Shit!" He cursed abruptly, prompting Sakura to raise her head up in a fraction of a millisecond. "I have to go. This spot, tonight, around eight." He raced to the other street, barely catching Sakura's "goodbye."

.

.

Work was uneventful. Sasuke's tardiness was, for the most part, unnoticed. The restaurant was busier than usual, being a weekend and all. They closed the restaurant a little bit after noon, for their lunch break. Most of the workers hung around the parking lot behind the restaurant, save for Sasuke and Shikamaru who decided to stay in the restaurant lounge, where an arcade racer was available.

"Just fuckin' run over the trash can," Shikamaru hissed while as he stood beside the game, watching Sasuke play. He took a drag of his cigarette and turned away from Sasuke to blow out a puff of smoke.

"Why don't you smoke your shit outside, Shikamaru?" Sasuke drawled.

"The window's open, all right. Just run over the fucking trash cans. The cats too." Shikamaru exhaled a puff of smoke right in front of the screen.

"You shit," Sasuke coughed.

"That's what you get for being so protective over trash cans and cats in a game." Shikamaru put out his cigarette. "Let me play."

_They're very overprotective Sasuke-kun._

_They d..don't really care…_

"That liar," Sasuke muttered under his breath as he stepped on the pedal, accelerating his car to the checkpoint. He was getting increasingly worried about Hiro being under the care of such a suspicious person.

Shikamaru sat down on the machine right after Sasuke stood up and inserted a quarter into the coin slot. "Who's a liar?"

Sasuke leaned on the machine chair. "Nobody." He watched as Shikamaru played the game lazily without a care for any of the obstacles in his path. Two cars had already passed him. "You're losing, idiot." Sasuke smirked.

"I'll catch up."

"SASUKE!" An almost too-eager voice came from right outside the window. Sasuke turned to see Naruto climbing inside the room. "Let us sleep over your house tonight."

"Whatever." Sasuke said.

"Hell yeah! You're going with us, right, Shikamaru?" Naruto asked enthusiastically.

"Whatever." Shikamaru muttered, his face concentrated on the game.

"Yeaaah, party at Sasuke's!"

.

.

After work, Sasuke found himself walking home with his male coworkers. They first went to grab some drinks from Kiba's house and went to the supermarket, after Naruto insisted they must have some ramen in their sleepover. They were at the cashier when Sasuke nearly – _nearly _– panicked after realizing he was late to picking up Hiro.

"I'll go on ahead, I forgot something." Sasuke told them.

"Sasuke, just wait, we're almost done, we - " Naruto began, only for the Uchiha to completely ignore him. "So impatient!" He whined.

Sasuke ran to Sakura's block and was relieved to see her at the spot, with Hiro in her arms, alive.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura waved at the boy, grinning sheepishly.

"Sorry, I'm late." He took his kitten from the female and carefully put her in his jacket, acquiring a purr from Hiro.

"It's okay! He was very good today!" Sakura said happily. "Do you mind if I walk with you? I don't have much to do."

_Goddammit,_ Sasuke bit his inner lip. "Uh…" He started, but noticed the bandage around Sakura's hand. He pointed at it and asked, "Are you sure Hiro was being good?"

Sakura raised her eyebrows and looked at her hand. "Oh this? No don't worry about it, I just burned myself when I was making food for me and Hiro!" The Uchiha's eyes widened a little bit but Sakura was quick to provide a response towards his unnerving look. "I was just so excited, having a pet for a day and all-"

"Sasuke teme!" A certain blonde's voice came from across the street, and Sasuke turned to see his friends approaching them; Naruto, in particular, was running. When he reached Sasuke, he stared wide-eyed at his company. "It's a girl!"

"You idiot," Sasuke punched his friend in the back of his head.

The others caught up to them, and Kiba's reaction was practically the exact same as Naruto's. "Sasuke, that's a girl!" He gasped in amazement.

Sasuke took a quick glance at Sakura, who was looking slightly offended and confused.

Naruto took Sakura's hand and shook it. "Hi, miss lady! I'm Naruto, I'm Sasuke's friend. What are you doing with Sasuke?"

Sakura was too confused to reply, but luckily, Naruto didn't even wait for answer and turned to Sasuke. "You didn't tell us you had a girlfriend, asshole!"

Sasuke's eye twitched slightly. "She's not my girlfriend. She was babysitting my cat."

Suigetsu put on his shark-like grin and put an arm around Sasuke's shoulder. "Come on, you don't need to lie."

"Miss lady, you wanna join us for a party?" Naruto turned to Sakura again, who appeared to be stunned by the sudden situation. Sakura stuttered an "it's okay," to the lively blond in front of her and turned to Sasuke.

"I'll be going back home now, Sasuke-kun. I hope I can borrow Hiro again sometime! I'll see you around?" Sakura said quickly.

Sasuke nodded. "Yeah. Thanks." And with that Sakura hurriedly walked to cross the street and kept the same pace when she reached the block.

Naruto whined. "You're no fun, Sasuke, she seemed cool!"

Sasuke ignored the blonde's complaints, and the boys proceeded to walk towards Sasuke's house.

Sasuke endured the teasing about Sakura and listened to his friend's chats on the walk to his house, while stroking Hiro's head.

_That liar._

Sasuke crossed his eyebrows.

Didn't Sakura say her house was located in the block before the crosswalk?


End file.
